Category: SciFi

Weekend Update

I was able to take my first ride on the road since surgery this Saturday.  I tried to make the Slow Spokes ride, but realized I forgot my shoes after I am at the ride start.  I went tback home and Debby said she would ride if I could wait an hour.   So I ended up riding with her and Karla the first 15 miles before I headed to the lake to add a few miles.  Almost as soon as I had split with Debby, I met the Slow Spoke riders and flipped back and rode a few miles with the group  before meeting back up with Debby and Karla at the Bicycle Chain.  It was a relief to have my first road ride under my belt with no issues.  My heart rate was up a little from a month ago and I went anaerobic a little sooner than I was accustomed, but my legs felt pretty good afterward.  I will try to do cycling class Monday and the Thursday Slow Spokes ride if the weather will cooperate.

My nephew called and wanted to see District 9 Saturday afternoon.  I was a little thrown off by the first few scenes with the hand held camera shots, thinking I was in for another Cloverfield, but it went to more standard cinematography for the majority of the film with very good editing in the action sequences.  The SyFy channel could take some hints from this picture when trying to create interesting films on a limited budget.  From what I have seen in the media so far, the cost to produce District 9 was $30 million.  For a cast of unknowns, the acting was not a distraction, and in reality I think it helps the film focus on the storyline and underlying message as you are not comparing the actor to their abilities as seen in previous roles.  If you are the least bit of a Science Fiction fan, or if you are open to something different than the over produced big studio films then check out District 9 (IMDb).

I will officially become a Mac user sometime tomorrow.  It should be interesting as I have been a PC user since converting from my Commodore 64 in 1984.  I have used DOS 3 through DOS 7 and experiments with DR DOS and OS/2 along the way.  Too bad IBM abandoned the OS2 project.  I was able to multitask the dial up BBS I used to run while still using the computer for my PC needs at the same time.  Windows has never been able to do this and still can’t do it today with any real efficiency.  I have been playing with Linux since Redhat 4 and currently use Ubuntu at work for security testing as well as at home for my web server.  So tackling OSX Leopard should not be that big of a deal.  I did pick up one of Scott Kelby’s books on the Mac that has some great tips that should save me some time.

In the Shadow of the Moon

I guess I was almost seven years old on July 20, 1969. I don’t know that I truly remember the day’s greatest event of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. I do remember watching a clunky B&W television showing live images of later moon walks at school, but nothing compares to the images that have been put together for the documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon“. The film has no narration other than the astronauts who lived the greatest adventure of all time telling their story with heartfelt unrestrained candor. Neil Armstrong was sadly missing, but the others carried the film well. I am glad I was able to see the film on the large screen and would recommend that everyone see this documentary. Make sure you take a kid or young adult who did not experience this era first hand. While there is, what appears to me, to be some editorializing toward the end of the film trying to make the accomplishment of going to the moon and back have us forget about today’s troubles, it reminds us that with technology and the freedom to use it for good and bad there are responsibilities that we must accept to care for our home. And that it may take more engineering prowess to fix the havoc we continue to wreak than it took to make the Apollo program a success. The one comment that sticks out in my mind from the film is that as Cooper, Aldrin and Armstrong traveled the globe after Apollo 11 that there was no nationalism only humanism as various heads of state said not that an American did it, but that “WE DID IT” in a sense of accomplishment for all nations and mankind.